Liverpool - Home to more than just the Beatles

On Wednesday we arrived once again in Liverpool. We had been here before on Princess with Michel and Judy, but decided to explore the Lake District on that trip. This time we were determined to see something of the city, although we had no idea what to expect of it, since almost everyone who isn't Liverpuddlian to start with only associates the city with its main entertainment export - The Beatles.

We had found a city tour with a Tours by Locals guide, Neil, and had arranged with another couple on the ship, David and Gerri, who were doing the same one to share the tour. We had found previously that Tours by Locals guides are very knowledgeable and, because they are driving their cars, able to get to places that the big coaches can't reach, and they're able to make unscheduled but interesting stops along the way.

Neil met us at the pier; we piled into his small but roomy Toyota and set off. Liverpool has historically been the main shipping and shipbuilding city in northern England, but because the River Liffey has a high tidal variation it was very difficult to load and unload ships as they would literally keel over at low tide. So the local folk, knowing that controlling this would be imperative to their continuing success as a port, came up with the imaginative idea of building a lock and canal system where they could artificially keep the water level high when the tide went out so on and off-loading would not be disrupted. So the Liverpool waterfront is really a whole series of canals where the various Docks are located. The canals are still in use now, but only for recreation.  The Albert Dock area has been redeveloped as an entertainment hub with restaurants, bars and shops.

Canal boats - some look lived-in like in Amsterdam and London

Next Neil took us to the Liverpool Cathedral, an absolutely amazing building that, despite its appearance, was actually built in the 20th century,over a 60 year period. The architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, didn't quite see it finished.  There had been a design competition for the building in the 1910s, and it was ultimately won by Scott, who at the time was in his early 20s. His father was also a well-known architect so the church figured that the father had been involved in the design and it was getting two for the price of one, but that wasn't the case, and despite a number of setbacks as it went along, the younger Scott finally had his design come to life.  It is the largest Anglican cathedral in Europe - it looks big from the outside but even larger inside. The information pamphlet for the cathedral says 'the staggering architecture will make your jaw drop!', and it is completely correct.

The hill where the Cathedral is built used to have a
cemetery. The remains were all relocated and some
of the gravestones now form the walkway around the
Cathedral's front side

Since we were still on the subject of churches, our next stop was the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King Liverpool. It is a very modern building built in the 1960s, but with a history that goes back to 1933. As the story goes, the relatively small Catholic community - remember England has been predominantly Anglican for a very long time - decided it wanted to build the biggest Catholic cathedral in Europe (did they forget about St. Peter's?) and had Sir Edward Lutyens design the building. They got as far as building the Crypt, the underground section, before they ran out of money. A visit to the Crypt (which we didn't do) would show just how overly ambitious their design really was. When they ran out of money again, and couldn't get any help from Rome, they had to redesign the cathedral to fit their budget. This picture, from the visitors' brochure, it what they ended up with:

Even so, it wasn't built with the best quality, and the ultimate cost of fixing things in the 1980s was almost half of the original building cost. But despite its rather odd exterior, Paddy's Wigwam, as it is affectionately called, is quite beautiful on the inside:

The cathedral is deceptive from the outside; the interior
is much larger, able to hold 2,300 people for Mass. The
altar is in the centre

Even after all that, the Cathedral has been visited by both Queen Elizabeth and Pope John Paul II and many people believe that Liverpool would not be the city it is now without it.

A few other stops around town included:

The Chinatown Gate - very impressive considering
Chinatown only has 2 streets

The main Library - look at the birdhouses in the tree

The World Museum and Queen Victoria's statue

The Duke of Wellington in the background, and
Queen Victoria on her horse. We were wondering though,
when she may have been wounded in battle,
since that's what her horse's position (one foot
raised) says about its rider.

Of course, this being Liverpool, there had to be a Beatles section to the tour. This was one of David's requests as he was a big Beatles fan - but not so much of one that he had to visit their childhood homes, etc, etc. So we took a walk through a few streets around the Cavern Club where the guys used to hang out.

We finished off the tour with a short stop at Castle Street to see the beautiful architecture of the main shopping area and a brief look into the foyer of the Town Hall. Some of the silver pieces on display there are quite lovely, including some gifts given to the city by wealthy citizens in Liverpool's history.

Castle Street

The Town Hall Foyer

That evening, our main show was a Beatles tribute group doing a lot of the earlier hits that everyone would know.

Our friend Keith made the original suggestion that this group should be booked on our Liverpool stop after seeing them during the last world cruise, so we have him to thank for a great evening's entertainment. The show was so good, we went twice!!